Belle's Bane
by aelmer6
Summary: A sailor's hell; Circus Belle De Bane is a death game for the entertainment of unknown spectators. Once you hear heavens rage and homage is payed to the years, new and old, your death sentence has already been signed. The seemingly undefeatable Straw-hats are faced with a show that no one ever comes back from. And Sanji just can't seem to stay out of trouble as all eyes are on him.
1. Chapter 1: Circus Belle De Bane

**AN: Hello, this is my first fan-fic (unless you count my random poem). I do plan on continuing it even if it takes a while. I got the idea from _The Night Circus_ and _The Hunger Games_ but it is not a crossover. I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter one: Circus Belle De Bane

Our escape from Punk Hazard put one of Zoro's katanas to shame, and saying that we cut it fine is a gross understatement. But Luffy being Luffy was already board out of his skull, even though we just left a half hour ago. And he was already bugging me for food. Nami and Usopp were busy revealing their strength own (they kind of did run Caesar through the ringer). Chopper had just about finished giving medical attention where it was needed. Zoro was napping (big surprise) while Brook and Foxfire chatted a bit about where they had picked up there swords, where they had learned to fight, and other swords-man-y stuff. Zoro had talked with them for a bit before a nap attack had hit him and he started dozing of against the side of the ship. Momonosuke (or Momo) was being a lucky little brat and was currently cuddling Robin (mostly her chest region) while she sat and read a book, patting the little [insert swearword of your choice here] on the head with and extra arm. Franky had finally stopped crying about the condition of the ship and was now working on a few finishing touches with the fix up. I had just served lunch on PH so I still had some time before I needed to get started on dinner. I walked over to where Law was gazing out at the ocean and moved to stand beside him. We didn't say anything for a long time, just watch the waves roll lazily along the ocean and listen to the sounds of laughter and Brook's violin coming from the crew. I'm about ready to leave and go start dinner when I here something strange. It's like thunder but with, just; something more. No one else seams to notice it, not even Nami who can sense a storm from miles away. "Hey Law," he tilted his head towards me to show that he's listening, I continue. "Did you here that noisy just now?" He gives me a look that say if its anything other that the crew entertaining each other then I'd have to specify. "It sounded like lightning ricocheting off a stadium made of sea-stone prism. With the background noise of thunder screaming at the heavens who cast it down towards earth followed by the sound of bells." I had no idea where the analogy came from, it just, kind of fit. Law turned to fully face me with a look I though I would never see on him; fear, true, unadulterated fear.

"Sanji, please tell me your joking." His voice was pleading but his face said he already knew that I wasn't.

"I'm not joking, what's wrong with yo-" I stopped short, it finally hit me. "Oh, crap. You can't really think that it's..." I trail off without needing to finish, we both knew what it was, and there was no escaping that fact.

"Belle's Bane." We spoke at the same time our expressions mirroring that horror that just that name brought. As we both tried to think of a way out of it our minds finally settled on the one person who might know of a way. "Robin." Again speaking in unison we ran over to where Robin was sitting. Momo had fallen asleep and Robing had just gotten back from putting him to bed (in the girls room, no less!).

"What's the rush?" Here silky voice broking in to a bit of a chuckle at the end of the question.

"Belle's Bane." I spoke before Law and they both cringed when I said the name of that cursed 'entertainment.' Robins face paled and we knew no further explanation was necessary. Every sailor had heard of this occurrence at least once in there life. When you hear the sound of the heavens rage followed by the sweet sound of bells, don't run, don't pray, don't even hope. No one can escape Belle's Bane.

Robin stood and spoke quickly before rushing of to the ship's library. "Gather everyone up, fast, I'll go grab _Heaven's Thunder_." _Heaven's Thunder_ is the only known book to this day that says anything of Belle's Bane. Legend says that it was written by the game's-master as a mockery to those who tried to do anything other than except their fate.

"Everyone, get over her now!" Law had to scream a bit to be heard over the ruckus of the crew.

"Aww, but I don't want to Tora-guy!" Luffy wined at Law seeing a he was finally being entertained (Usopp what doing some weird-o imitations).

Despite the desperate situation Law was fuming over the unwanted nickname that Luffy had assigned to him. "It's Trafalgar, straw-hat! T. R. A. F. A. L. G. A. R. Get it right!"

Law's face met with his hand as Luffy tried (and failed) again, "Trafal-guy?"

"TrafalGAR! And I'm gonna ring that skinny neck of yours straw-hat!"

I sigh as I walk over to where Law stands; fuming. "Sorry to ruin the fun, but..." I pause a second before saying those cursed words, "It's Belle's Bane." All movement stops, mouths hang open, limbs frozen in air, like the world just went into suspended animation. Robin rushes back onto deck with her book and everything starts to move again. Everyone runs to form a circle around her.

She opens the book and starts to read; "_Heaven's Thunder_, a narrative by Saynarn Glory. She flips a couple pages before starting to read again. "Belle's Bane; a death game for those who brave the seas yet run at just the mention of this Colosseum. It's name comes from Belle, meaning beautiful in French and Bane; death, destruction, and ruin. In other words; Beautiful death." The sound of sharp intakes of air can be heard as Robin pauses to take another breath. "This wandering circus has been around since man learned to walk. The same game, only the names have changed. Rule 1: you cannot escape once you hear the sound of heavens rage followed by bells. Once your ship has been called you will be haunted till the circus finds you. This rule is solid fact; no exceptions. Rule 2: Not all participating members are real and we reserve the right to withhold information pertaining to the legitimacy of the challenging party. Rule 3: all fights are to the death unless otherwise instructed. No exceptions. Rule 4: physically interfering in a match will not be tolerated and will be punished by the guilty parties immediate extermination. Rule 4: all weapons except other persons are allowed. Rule 5: have fun and put on a good show." Another pause in her reading. "If you have read this far we compliment you on your quick thinking. I know you're about the join the show; because only those who hear it can truly read this. Tried it before? Don't worry, no one ever remembers. Have fun, and welcome to the Circus Belle De Bane."

"Beautiful by death circus, what a morbid name." Nami speaks quietly but over the sound of us barely daring to breath she's easy to hear.

"I'd say we have a little less than a minute left." Law speaks with the emotion drained out of his voice.

"Nice knowing you all." No one's really sure who spoke, but with death looming over us I'm pretty sure the feeling's mutual.

"Wait, there's more." Robin spots one last blurb of text on the page. "By the way; the second time heaven cries and homage is payed to the years, new and old, you will find the agony of regret."

"Then everyone better hold on, 'cause I just heard it again." I speak quickly so that no one's caught unawares.

The sound of a match being struck hangs in the air as the following sound of a world of flames follows. Everything, the ocean, the sky, everything as far as the eye can see slowly shifts into shades of gray, accented by unadulterated black and white here and there. And as though someone has dimmed a light it all fades to black. The kind of black you see when you close your eyes. I can feel flames dancing around the ship, taunting up, pulling us in. My eyes are closed although I don't remember closing them. When they fluter open I see candles floating along the water beside our drifting vessel. Everything not illuminated by the candles is black. Except where we are being led. A black and white circus tent emerges from the darkness. It looks small but from the way it's starting to loom towards up it's easy to see that it's huge. Looking around I see that the rest of our crew is in the same predicament as I. Jaws are dropped to the floor ad eyes are bulging out of there sockets. A flickering catches my attention. I turn in time to see fireflies form around the front of the colorless tent. They form into the words; "Circus Belle De Bane" and below in much smaller 'print:' "Welcome to hell." I gulp as the lower letters disappear leaving only the name of our hell. On with the show, for we are only here to die.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2: Epiphany

**AN: Another chapter down. I probably wont be able to update as quick as this on a regular basis but they will come. I do not own One Piece and probable never will, nor do I own the two songs that I referred to in this chapter. _Epiphany _and _Father, Son, and Holy Ghost_ are both by _TSO_ and they are fabulous. Hope you enjoy. **

Chapter 2: Epiphany

The inside of the tent beckons to us as we slowly float in. Agonizingly slow, that is. The flaps of the tent flutter wide open. The inside was colorless as well. The water seemed poisoned, sick. There were no fish, not a sign of life at all. Just crystal clear water the color of ash. Outlines of figures drew near to a dock I hadn't even noticed before. With a closer look I saw that human as they may seem, there wasn't any flesh on them. Like Brook, they were bony. But their bones had sharp angels, they seemed hollow, empty, and almost as a replacement of their flesh murky shadows clung to their frames. Though it wasn't enough to keep careful eyes from seeing what lies beneath. The shadow flesh was a bit slower than the figures movement's, a couple seconds behind. So it looked like it was chasing them rather than being a part of them. One stood out among the crowd He wore a top hat with a crimson ribbon tied around the base of it, a pinstripe suit, and black dress shoes. The last thing I noticed was the black pin on his lapel. It was shaped like a raven curled up and ready to launch into the air. Dark crimson accented parts of the pin so it was at least somewhat noticeable. He was singing something. I had been so focused on his appearance that I hadn't noticed the deep, rich voice that filled the seemingly endless tent. "Do you believe in night?" It was said as a question but the voice behind it sounded to confident to need an answer. "Does it hold you close?" There's the same confidence but now there's also the sound of a secret being kept. One we don't know yet but, judging by the voice, will soon enough. "When you're at your last card, pray hard; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The secret spills. Lights come on like the ending of a solar eclipse. Candles shine proud all around the tent. Vendors along a worn down path in the silver grass. At first it looks black but when the light hits it at just the right angel you can see its true colors; or lack there of. The vendors sell inviable wares and all I can see at the stales are those stray bits of shadow that never did find a body.

"It's stopped." Law is the first to speak and reminds the rest of us that we're still capable of doing the same. I look back at the dock an realize he's referring to the Sunny. We had indeed stopped. Wooden boards were laid against the ship as a few 'people' from the crowd move up onto our ship Hands are offered and each of us takes one in their turn. A particularly short figure helps me to my feet. His hands are like touching a normal persons, firm, alive. But they're so cold; I recoil at the first touch but reach my hand back out again after a moments thought. I assume that it's a little boy because of how he's dressed. He wears a news boy uniform with a cap on his head thats a few sizes to big and falls into his face whenever he moves. I follow Luffy and his escort down the plank of wood. The only way I can tell what it is, is the sound it makes. A solid echo, only a slight magnification of the original sound. The top hated man had already made it a ways down the path in the silver grass.

He caught our attention one more time as he began to shout into the air like salesman ready for an attempt at taking anyone who came along out of their money and into the show. "Come one, come all," his hands gesture us to come closer, and we do. "Welcome to the worlds greatest entertainment since the fall of Rogers!" I cringe at the notion of Roger's death being mer entertainment. "Life! Death! Victims! Voyeurs!" The way he could speak so easily about Belle De Bane and even advertise it made me sick. "The best of society!" Out of the corner of my eyes I see Law glance down to his right; curious. "The lowest of plebeians!"Luffy scoffs and I can see that he's in a considerably less pleasant mood than when he was trying to pronounce Trafalgar's name. The man continued without noticing, or just choosing to ignore the land mines he stepped on. "And to keep it all extremely interesting," Even though he didn't have a really human face it was almost as though he was smirking, like a salesman getting to the big idea he's pitching. "Today's patrons could very easily be tomorrows entertainment!" Zoro spat on the ground with extreme resentment, probably being referred to as "entertainment."

"Who are the patrons anyway?" I can't help but mumble this under my breath and I'm sure everyone else is wondering the same thing.

Ignored once again, the oily snake of a salesman continues, "All compliments of the ultimate showman; fate!" This caught my attention. So this was just a show provided by fate himself. "All that's missing!" Now we were getting somewhere. The climax of his speech had hit and would now come crashing back down on us. "IS THE COLISEUM!" His voice boomed around the tent as he shoved his hands into the air. As though pushing against some invisible force with the intentions of rising a great stone coliseum straight from the ground. And as though on cue, the ground started to shudder. Stone pierced the trembling earth as it roes from the beneath the ground. It was big, to say the least. It's hight rivaled the highest point in Marineford. Flying buttresses connected stand alone towers positioned around the dome to it's outer wall. Meticulously carved stone created a look of beauty in the cold stone. Whispers in my ears ordered me forward. We all walked silently towards the coliseum with heads bowed. But no one was praying. But once we entered the stone battle dome I'm pretty sure we should have.

I could hear Zoro mumble under his breath; "Well, at least we get a fancy tombstone." I snort in response, he would say that.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3: Snake Eyes

**AN: Few things. First; I'm so sorry for the late update, life's busy but I'm still working on this. Thank you for everyone who reviewed, liked, and followed this story. Also, I never specified but this whole story will be from Sanji's POV unless otherwise marked. I have no one checking this other than spell-check and myself (and we all know how well that works) so I'm sorry for any grammatical and spelling errors. Pretty sure that's it. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3: Snake Eyes

"Come on, step lively. You with the nose," I joined the collective groan as Luffy commented on how we all have noses and promptly decided that our escort was a moron. And of course it was _entirely _necessary to inform the guy in a voice that could be heard at the other end of the Colosseum. The guy talking to us chose to ignore Luffy, which was probably a wise move. "Stop trying to hid in the back, you guys aren't going in for showing yet, but the walls have eyes, and they'd love to see you eaten alive." He lets out a low chuckle and flashes a demonic grin before pointing to our seats where we would be waiting. Once he disappears in the rows of empty chairs we move to sit down. Usopp sits first but seconds latter leaps out of his chair.

He tries, he really does, "Hmp... Bwah ha ha! Usopp, you can't fly!" Our impertinent little captain falls to his knees trying to stop the guffaws escaping his deceptively small frame. Chopper, Brook, and Momo are quick to join the hysterics as the rest of us just watch. A large, collective sigh escapes up as Usopp pulls out a hammer.

"Usopp... HAMMER! Usopp hammer! Usopp, HAMMER! Usopp's special exploding star!" You get the idea. It takes only a couple minutes for Usopp to get apologies and start another of his _glorious_ tales.

"So... why did you try to fly from you chair?" I chucked as the marimo brought our attention back to the chair thing.

Usopp's look of rage vanishes when he sees whose addressing him. "Hehehe, well, it seemed better than becoming a human shish kabob." Upon closer inspection we discovered that Usopp's chair had a spike sticking out of the fabric. The perfect placement to impale the heart of a person at average height.

"Oh..." A collective acknowledgment from all of us (minus the idiots rolling around on the floor) and one face-palm later, it finally sinks into Usopp that he almost died (again). We ignore Usopp and Nami screaming something about Kami and wishing I had never heard a bell in my life. Nami looks adorable while doing so, Usopp just looks like a moron.

"So we just wait here?" Law seems kind of confused, like he was expecting something other than waiting in an empty coliseum.

"Oh don't worry; you won't be waiting long." I look around and see the others doing the same. None of us spoke. "Right here Straw hats. By the way, how's Patty doing? I never did get to pay him back."

"Gin?" He looks like Gin and he probably wouldn't have forgiven Patty that easily, but what was he doing here? He opens his mouth to speak again, but the bullet now embedded somewhere deep in his brain doesn't him to do so.

The same man that ushered us to our seats is back with a board look on his face, "Come right this way please."

"But what about Gin..." I trail off.

"Where did he go" Robin wonders out loud as we all look at the seat where Gins corps should have been. A black, paper crane is the only thing there.

Stupid escort guy speaks again and we turn back towards him "Damn; just a fake. I've been trying to get that guy since the day his crew came." Muttering the last sentence he turns to us. "Well, I haven't got all day." We look back at the rest of our crew (and Momo) who are still hopelessly laughing while Usopp and Nami imitated puddles on the floor.

"Shall we?" Zoro looks at me with a look that expresses how long he wanted to beat them up.

"Thought you'd never ask." We were already just a few paces away from the idiots when I responded. After knocking them around a bit they followed like dejected puppies.

We follow S.e.g. [Stupid-Escort-Guy] down a flight of stone stairs. "You must have been board stiff waiting around. Soul always has liked a big entrance. We had to lower and rise the coliseum in just 10 minutes. They need to stop it with the short warnings."

"Who's Soul?" Nami peeped up from behind a beat-up Usopp (of course a hand wasn't laid on Nami-swan during the process).

"Ah; he's that prick that introduced you to the games with that massive monologue and theatrics of "raising" the coliseum. He takes his orders straight from the boss so we have to listen to him."

"Huh..." Nami ponders on this response for a bit before giving a real reply. "Is Soul his real name? And who's the "boss"?"

"Curious little lady, aren't you?" He gives her a wink which results with a growl from me. S.e.g. leaves it alone and finally gets on with it; "Well his full name's _Crimson Soul_, at least that's what he's known as around here. No one but the boss knows the staffs real name around here. We can't even remember our own." S.e.g.'s voice shows an uncharacteristic bit of regret, but its gone as fast as it came. "And as for the boss; well, thats all classified information. Only the Magistrate four even know who the boss is." I kind of get what he's saying be I'd rather just sit down and have him explain the whole thing to me.

And from Nami's question it's clear she feels the same. "So, is Soul one of the four?"

S.e.g. chuckles lowly, "Yeah, he's one of the 'strate. And you're about to meet another in just a minute. But watch out, Em's a tool." we follow him down the last couple steps, I hadn't even noticed that we made it this far. "And here's where I leave you." I step on the dirt ground of the coliseum and look back. S.e.g.'s gone.

"Where'd he g-" the question dies on my lips as return my gaze to the center of the coliseum. Soul's there but he's with someone now.

"Welcome to the Belle de Bane!" A roar of applause came from invisible spectators as the stadium came to life. "With me here for the games, is Amphetamine! Or as you like to call him; Em!" The last bit was drowned out by the crowd screaming Em's name. The man stepped forward. He sports a frown and tuxedo. The tails have emerald trim, the vest under his tux is pinstriped with dark green stitching, his pants are basic black, and his black dress shoes have emerald spats. He doesn't wear a hat but his straight hair is deep forest green, it's shaved on one side and I can see that it's roots are also green. The remaining half of his hair covers his right eye and drops past his shoulder. He flips the crowd off, an emerald ring on his index finger. That just makes them shriek more with excitement, although now the voices are decidedly more feminine. "Now for our newest entertainment." Soul chuckles as he motions for us to step forward.

**TBC**

**AN: I will be using song names for chapter titles and skeletons for now. _Snake Eyes_ is by _Feint_ and its a pretty cool song. I thought it fit seeing as they're kind of screwed. Most of the introductions should be about finished up so next time I get to start on the fun stuff.**


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